Opening of IcePlex next fall will create opportunities Sioux Falls hasn't known

Oct. 26, 2013

Sioux Falls area high school girls participate in a preseason tryout Thursday for the Flyers hockey team at the Sioux Falls Ice and Rec Center. Ground will be broken next week for a new facility to open next fall. / Joe Ahlquist / Argus Leader

ICEBREAKER

The Ice and Rec Center in southern Sioux Falls has been a second home for Kayla Nack since she was 5, but she’s looking forward to what a new ice facility means for hockey in Sioux Falls.

“It gets people interested in hockey,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll get some more numbers out on the ice.”

Nack, 17, is the star center for the state champion Flyers girls varsity team and a senior at Roosevelt High School. By the time the new Scheels IcePlex opens next fall, she hopes to be playing Division III college hockey.

The Ice Sports Association, a nonprofit that formed four years ago for the purpose of building a new multisheet ice facility, will break ground Thursday north of the new Sanford Pentagon basketball facility at the Sanford Sports Complex.

Flyers coach Brian Wrightsman said having three regulation-size sheets of ice available is a huge improvement. Now, none of the rinks in Sioux Falls are regulation size, not even the Arena where the Stampede plays.

For Wrightsman’s girls teams and other Sioux Falls Youth Hockey Association groups, more practice space will mean more time on the ice and consistent practice schedules.

“It’s better for the kids all around,” he said.

Taylor LaFollette, 16, is a first-year Flyer. She expects to get more practice time next year. Now, most of the ice time goes to figure skaters, said LaFollette, who is a former figure skater herself.

Dianne Mork of Brandon was dropping off her two girls for tryouts Thursday afternoon at the Ice and Rec Center. Kaylee, a freshman at Brandon Valley, and her sister Kaija, a fifth-grader, tried hockey for the first time last year. They liked it and wanted to come back for another season.

Having traveled for games in other cities, Mork prefers the fan experience in Brookings and Sioux Center, Iowa, where she said it’s warmer and the seats are better.

“Sioux Falls has probably the worst facilities in the state,” she said.

The only other indoor ice in Sioux Falls is set up each winter in the Expo building at the W.H. Lyon Fairgrounds. Mork said the big building is really cold and lacks locker rooms and convenient restrooms.

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This probably will be the last season for ice at the Expo building. Already, the rink has to be torn out each January in the middle of skating season to open the building for the annual Sioux Empire Farm Show. Scott Wick, who is fair president and CEO, said it will take some marketing, but he’s confident that without the ice the building can be booked for more events.

Ice and Rec Center future is clouded

The future of the Ice and Rec Center is uncertain. The city’s contract with Sioux Falls Sports to manage the place expires in June. Operating the Ice and Rec Center costs the city $36,000 per year.

Like the new IcePlex, the Ice and Rec Center was built by a group wthat raised the money and initially ran the place.

Joe Zueger is president of Ice Sports Association, leading the efforts to raise money for the new facility. His dad was in the group who did the same thing in the early 1980s for the Ice and Rec Center.

“People are quick to complain about it 35 years later when it’s kind of old, kind of tired and a little rusty,” he said. “But for those of us that were there that first day, it’s a compelling story of what happens when people step up to do the right thing.”

As the city’s Parks and Recreation Board approved an agreement with the Ice Sports Association this week, board chairman Mike Crane said he’s most concerned about keeping tabs on how well the facility is serving the public. That’s the main reason the city agreed to help with the project, dedicating $1.5 million in next year’s capital budget to buy equipment for the facility.

“Given the use that’s out there with the facilities we have and the growing interest in hockey and other ice sports, I think this is going to be great addition to the community,” Crane said.

He said he’s not worried that the city eventually will take over operations at the IcePlex as it did with the old facility.

Zueger said the perception was that the Ice and Rec Center couldn’t make it financially so the city had to step in, but “that couldn’t be further from the truth.”

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His dad and others were in their 40s when they secured the land and raised the money for the building. By the late 1990s when they were ready to hand it off, there was no next generation of management to take over, Zueger said.

Facility should cover its costs

Part of the agreement when the facility was handed to the city was that rates for ice time wouldn’t go up, Zueger said. That’s what’s behind the relatively low rate of $85 per hour at the Ice and Rec Center. Expo rates are almost $100 higher.

Zueger said rates at the new IcePlex will be somewhere between those two, but they haven’t yet been set. Knowing the demand for ice time, he’s confident that the facility will stand on its own.

Youth and adult hockey leagues, the Stampede and figure skaters all require practice time. With public skating sessions, skate rental, concessions and advertising, he foresees revenue in excess of a half million dollars a year.

Originally, the Ice Sports Association had hoped to open the facility without taking on any debt. Now, the association probably will need to take out a mortgage of about $1 million.

Zueger said it might be worthwhile to take on some debt to get construction underway before costs get higher.

“This project has had many false starts over the years. It’s really been decades in the making,” Ice Sports Executive Director Sue Salter said.

The association has about $2 million left to raise on the $8.5 million project.

She said the generosity of private citizens and the business community, along with support from the city, made the IcePlex a reality. Private dollars cover about 85 percent of the cost.

The group had raised $5 million before going into an fundraising campaign last fall through the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, which brought in another $1.5 million.

A private donor gave $1 million. Scheels paid $750,000 for naming rights, and the Stampede Hockey Club contributed $200,000. The Ice Sports Association has a 70-year agreement with Sanford Health to lease the 11 acres at the sports complex for $1 per year.

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The city’s $1.5 million can be used for a range of equipment. Heating and cooling systems, a sound system, bleachers or fixtures to outfit the locker rooms are some of the possibilities.

Plans have changed a bit since the first concepts were drawn up three years ago. Then, the project involved five phases that would spread out the construction of permanent seating and locker rooms and eventually put in a fourth rink for a total cost of $11.1 million.

Salter said it was better to do as much work as possible in phase one to make the building functional. New plans call for some permanent seating and locker rooms. The main rink will have seating on both sides. The secondary rink will have limited seating on one side of the ice, and the third rink will offer practice space with room for spectators to stand.

The facility won’t run all three sheets year round. Zueger said in April, May and October, it’s likely that two sheets will be in operation, with only one sheet during summer months.

Keeping with the city’s agreement, Salter said they will set aside certain hours for public access.

“It definitely is a facility for everyone,” she said.

A curling league might be the next group looking for ice time. A group of about 15 to 30 began playing last winter.

Last year, curling stones were rented and matches played at a few outdoor parks in Sioux Falls and Brandon. Jim Marko hopes to spark more interest and eventually be able to buy a set of stones, a big expense. A used set costs about $4,000. He said interest in curling in growing in South Dakota, and quite a few people locally are waiting to play indoors.

“After learning what it was like to play outside last year, we’re excited for the new facility to get built,” he said.